Bat (Eason Chan) is a member of a Chinese opera troupe, but often he feels a shadow following him. Even worse, he experiences visions of the past: in 1930s Hong Kong he follows the story of a girl opera player called Tse Wan Fei (Joey Yung), who falls for a rich young man (Nicholas Tse).

As it turns out Bat is the reincarnated form of Fei, but her spirit remains on as she has unfinished business - she hopes to finish a play in front of her lover. Bat helps her to find her lover in modern day Hong Kong, but when the truth comes out that her lover had already died many years ago, Fei must decide to let go. Bat however, needs the encouragement from Fei to approach the girl of his dreams.

In my opinion, this is a nod to the Anita Mui / Leslie Cheung film "Rouge", but with differences of course. The story is split into two different time frames, with Bat and Fei in modern day, and Fei and her lover back in the 1930s. The latter period remains more of a mystery with less emphasis on the development of the characters. More of that story is revealed with Fei's continued communication with Bat, who finds the whole affair a little queasy. Well, you would if your pre-life person turns up as a ghost and asks for a favour.

However, it is not all just one sided, as Bat learns more about himself and his responsibility to the opera troupe, especially to one of the elders played by Anthony Wong. His continued lack of finding a girlfriend is solved by the appearance of Fei, who guides him into courting a rich girl.

Story wise, Demi-haunted is not a comedy but more of a self-finding drama, with the emphasis on learning about oneself. It has tragic moments and some funny sections, but compared with Rouge, it doesn't really come close. In my opinion, Demi-haunted is not as entertaining as I thought it would be, and I was quite disappointed with it. The actors performed well, but the script was a bit too loose for my taste and remained emotionless by the end.